Local News

Gentle Reader: You may recall that in our concluding last week we reminded everyone of our usual practice of taking a brief hiatus for the holidays.

We do this for two reasons, the first being our life-long pattern of taking time off from whatever we were usually doing to instead do holiday related activities in a more relaxed manner than would be possible if we were also pursuing our regular activities — a practice we highly recommend.

The body of Janice Pugh Tollett of Rockwood was found outside her mother’s home at 404 Tedder St. Sunday.

“They found her lying back there behind the house,” said Ralph Hedrick, her cousin. “Nobody knows how she got back there. You can tell there had been a lot of movement. There was mud on the cars. She was lying in a mud hole.”

Hedrick said an autopsy is being done on Tollett, whose home was across the street from where she was found.

Even though city ordinances banning the sale of pseudoephedrine without a prescription have been deemed illegal, one proponent believes the amount of attention drawn to the issue could be beneficial.

“I am hopeful that the number of localities that have passed such ordinances will have brought enough attention to the legislature to ensure that they take some sort of affirmative action on the issue,” District Attorney General Russell Johnson said.

The Harriman Fire Department is making getting messages to Santa a little easier again. From left, Kevin Shepard, Josh Duncan, Brandon Alcorn, Chief Brad Goss and Jeff Cunningham pose behind the Santa Letter mailbox outside the firehall. Families can drive right up to the mailbox to drop in their letters.

Roane County Schools was able to complete several multi-million dollar building projects with the $32 million it received because of the TVA ash spill.

Without a doubt, that’s had a positive impact on local education, Director of Schools Gary Aytes said.

“We feel really good about the effects it has had,” he said. “Any time you can provide better facilities, your students are much more likely to be enthusiastic and want to come to school and do a better job.”